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Today’s USA Today article has a number of wonderful insights from our favorite bunch, even more than were posted yesterday. The article starts:

HERTFORDSHIRE, England — Hermione gets to wear jeans and — ugh — hold hands with Ron. Harry is one angry 13-year-old wizard. And his supernatural foes are even more ominous this time.

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The article mentions the essays Cuaron had the kids write, which we mentioned in our set report:

Cuaron: “The kids were very brave…They bared their souls. They were very eloquent. At some point, I wanted to publish them, then I thought no, I promised them it was just for the work of the film and it’s their personal stuff.”

They also discussed with Cuaron “what it means to be 13…How it’s different from 12 or 11. It’s an archetypal age. Kids change so much. You want to change the way you dress, the way you look, the way you argue.”

Daniel: “This is my favorite of the books…It’s a weird one because it almost reinvents the character. He’s more hostile. He’s got a lot of teenage aggression, which all people at 13 do.”

The article further discusses all the angst in this one, including when Watson makes a “quintissential 13-yhear-old grimace” at having to hold Ron’s hand in a scnee. Watson says there was “some embarrassing hugging to be done. With Ron (Rupert Grint). We have kind of a love-hate relationship.”

Radcliffe says the news that Sirius is on the loose “really shakes him as a person.”

Stuart Craig, production designer: “The first movies were action/adventure films, with big chases…This film is concerned with confronting their innermost fears.”

Cuaron: “Harry’s always been a kind of outsider, but now he becomes more aware of that forlornness. It’s about accepting who he is.”

Daniel: “He’s now becoming slightly more used to things like seeing a giant squid in a lake and all this magical stuff around him, the ghosts and everything…Whereas at first it was completely amazing, it’s now more commonplace. He’s becoming slightly more relaxed in terms of how he deals with school, but he’s a lot more paranoid about how he interacts with people.”

Cuaron: “Obviously the tone of the movies is completely different…Y Tu Mam was very realistic, with social observation. Here it’s a magic world, a fantasy, a bigger canvas. But emotionally it’s exactly the same thing. It’s a journey of a character’s seeking his identity and accepting who he is. To step out of the shadow of his father, for instance, is one of the themes.”

More Cuaron: “The hormones are buzzing, and so is their anger about things…And rather than repressing those things, it’s about letting it flow. It’s not about encouraging it, but just letting it be. . . . I didn’t want those emotions very polished. Sometimes they got carried away. I would let them. I didn’t want them to be neat. I wanted it a little raw.”

David Heyman on Cuaron: “In his heart and in his soul, he has magic and a sense of wonder….There’s a Latin spirit here, a magical realism. It’s a bit intangible, but oh so seductive.”

Cinematogrpaher Michael Seresin: “The story is more dramatic, so the lighting is more dramatic, high contrast, more shadows. It has a very different look and feel from the previous films.”

Craig: “There are lots of extraneous little bits of magic appearing in the background…Strange animals that live in Hagrid’s hut, for example. There’s somebody’s tail poking through the floor. They’re real throwaways, but there’s extra richness, extra detail in these wide shots.”

Heyman: “This is a real girl-power film…Hermione helps and leads Harry on many occasions.”

Watson on punching Malfoy: “It was great fun…We did a couple of takes, and I was saying ‘Come on, come on, let’s do it again.’ “